The present invention relates generally to client/server computer systems. Particularly, the present invention relates to a client/server architecture for delivering financial services to customers of various financial institutions.
Customers of various types of financial institutions such as banks, stock brokerages, credit card companies, and insurance companies often have a need to access information regarding recent account activity or their account balances. Typically, financial information is reported to customers in the form of monthly statements that list the account's activity and balance for the previous month. By the time these statements are processed and sent, they no longer reflect the current state of the account. Account balances may change on a daily basis for a variety of reasons including the addition of interest earned or the processing of a new transaction.
Customers in need of more timely information regarding their accounts usually have the option of calling a customer service representative of the financial institution to request a balance or activity report. Although the information is timely, it may be difficult or inconvenient to obtain. First, customers must call each institution from which they would like to obtain current information. When calling, they may need to wait for someone who can help. At other times, they may be required to traverse many levels of an automated attendant before reaching an option that will allow them to accomplish a specific task such as obtaining a current account balance. In either case, the information is presented verbally rather than in a written form that more closely resembles a statement. Finally, whether the information is communicated verbally or through a written statement, customers who wish to use the information in a computer program must enter it manually. In addition to the inconvenience, the process of manually entering the data is also error prone.
Customers of various financial institutions therefore, have a need to access recent financial information at their own convenience--preferably, from anywhere and at any time. Furthermore, customers have a need to see the financial data presented in an organized and understandable format similar to the monthly statement format with which customers are familiar. The present invention--Conductor.SM. System Architecture (Conductor)--supports a suite of on-line financial services from various financial services providers. Supported services include credit card account lookup and reporting, and checking and bill paying. In addition, customers and financial services providers may communicate with each other. Finally, the financial information obtained electronically may be downloaded directly to customers' personal computers for further processing. The need for manual data entry is eliminated.
The present invention is a sophisticated computer software system based on distributed system technology. Within the system, use of the TCP/IP protocol suite for communications with major components of the system allows the financial services to be accessed through the Internet. The same services may also be accessed directly through an on-line information service such as CompuServe.RTM.. Conductor supports a distributed "information cluster" located on the global Internet so it may be accessed at any time from around the world using any one of a number of presentation tools. A variety of financial services from a number of independent financial services providers are supported by the system so that users may review activity and balances relating to different types of accounts. The ability to use a variety of presentation tools to access a suite of financial services supported by a variety of financial services providers is unique to the present invention. The advantages of the present invention and others are explained further by the accompanying drawings and detailed description.